Case Study: How Businesses are Surviving the Coronavirus?
The coronavirus has severely impacted businesses. The economic fallout has been apparent and overwhelming. Many companies are struggling to sustain operations, while the less fortunate ones have closed down permanently.
In this case study, we have thoroughly examined the brands that are yet afloat in the face of the crisis and those who aren’t. We also went further to explore the mechanisms the surviving brands are leveraging to sustain revenue and, most importantly, remain relevant as the pandemic runs on.
Below are some of our findings reflecting the systems that are helping brands survive the crisis today.
Content Marketing
For the brands still pulling their weight in the face of the crisis, they are investing enormously in content creation to engage their customers and the general audience. This is given that they necessarily may not be able to interact with their customers physically as necessitated by the lockdown.
These brands have been able to consolidate their position authorities to reckon within their respective niches via serving their audience with insightful content.
We discovered that 61% of people prefer buying from companies that serve their audience with unique content.
The brands staying afloat are maximizing blogging, social media engagement, and video content creation, augmenting these search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to prop up their online visibility.
Video content is another great avenue to engage your audience. Statistics show that the average person will spend no less than 100 minutes each day watching online videos by 2021. Just like written content, video gives these brands credibility, helping them more emotionally connect with their target audience.
Nonetheless, content doesn’t necessarily have to be perpetually sales-oriented. Intermittently, the winning brands in the pandemic share goodwill content optimized around the COVID-19 crisis, either eulogizing the collective resilience of their customers or the public health workers.
For example, Walmart is using employee-generated content to applaud front-line workers
Similarly, General Mills is maximizing Zoom to interview executives on key COVID-related topics and dishing the content out to their audience.
Gift cards
Many businesses are maximizing gift cards to stay afloat as the pandemic rages. Gift cards are an excellent means to maintain a sustainable inflow of cash to pull through the coronavirus crisis.
More than just maintaining your revenue stream, a gift card (for example, to a restaurant) is a confirmation that these customers will come back to your business after the pandemic.
Businesses like local cafes, eateries, and bars in Seattle are leveraging gift cards to keep cash flowing, ensuring they don’t sink irrecoverably. Customers are all too willing to keep their favorite businesses alive.
According to Cassuto, who manages a video-production company and wedding photography business in Seattle, “I don’t want to see any of my favorite restaurants go out of business because of this. Like anybody who relies on customers, we’re all concerned and watching what’s going to happen.”
Discounts
Giveaways embellish the human side of your brand, showing your company as empathetic and caring. Most brands staying afloat are engaging in giveaways and discounts to show that they care more for people than the figures on their balance sheet. This has enabled customers to sentimentally sync with them.
More than this, brands are also leveraging discounts to make their products appear more economically appealing. This is because they have reduced the financial coefficient of the value they present.
Customers would be increasingly prompted to buy as they know they may not get such juicy offers from their competitors. Some companies are further increasing their brand awareness and connecting with their customers by optimizing their discount codes around our new given reality.
Motel, a Berlin-based micro-brewery (that focuses on nitro coffee and beer), is offering customers a 20% discount to customers buying via the code STAYINGHOME.
Branded Merchandise
With the coronavirus eating in the fiber of your industry, remarkable branding is sneaking businesses out of the economic malaise.
Branded merchandise visually solidifies brand credibility. Branded merchandise is giving companies more consistency in their visibility as their audience is more likely to see them frequently.
There is a lot of avenues to distribute such branded merchandise, even including charities.
Harper Wilde, a company that focuses on the education of girls and women, is releasing a limited edition bra tagged “in this together”. Now Harper Wilde is pledging to give 50% of the sales proceeds to No Kid Hungry, a charity that supports kids at risk of missing meals while school closes.
Here are ways that businesses are successfully navigating this pandemic. No doubt, the details are in the execution. A faithful implementation of these systems would prop up your chances of emerging from the pandemic not only with a more robust business structure but with more valuable sophistication, keeping you ahead of the competition.